Saturday, September 14, 2013

Stop The Sag

Last week I mentioned that I am doing an internship as part of my course of study, but I didn't give much detail. My course-load for the Fall semester includes three "regular" classes: H-107 "Educational Neuroscience," H-250 "Developmental Psychology," and AT-133 "Examining Achievement."* In addition to these three classes, I'm doing a Field Experience Program (S-997)—otherwise known as an internship. The following post is adapted from my first writing assignment for this course, which requires me to keep a journal to reflect on the experience. I've taken out some small parts that would be redundant for readers of this blog, as well as other bits to avoid airing the dirty laundry of organizations where I've worked in the past.

_____________________________

My decision to do the
Field Experience Program, and my desire to do it with the YMCA of Greater Boston, is consistent with my focus on Youth Development programs. While I
won’t be writing a thesis, I’m still designing my course of study in
the Special Studies Program around a final project or product. My goal is to
produce the first installment of a soccer-based curriculum for academic
enrichment geared towards first-graders. In the spring semester, I plan to organize this work through an Independent Study (S-999), utilizing the
resources of the Harvard Innovation Lab. My fall internship is an opportunity
to embed myself at the senior level of a large Youth Development
organization—the type of organization that might implement the curriculum I’m
designing once it’s finished.

I
have a lot of experience in Youth Development programs, including work in the
non-profit, for-profit, and public sectors, both in the United States and
abroad. I have worked in a management capacity in smaller organizations, and I
have worked “on the ground” in larger organizations. What I lack is the
experience of working at the senior planning level of a large YD organization.
Specifically, I want to learn more about how large organizations design,
select, implement and evaluate youth programs, particularly across multiple
sites. Does a large organization like the YMCA start from scratch and design
all of their own programs? Or, do they work with a third party to find or
develop programs and curriculum to suit their needs and goals. The answers to
this question will have an impact on how I “shop” my finished curriculum, and
who I see as potential clients or beneficiaries.

In past experiences I have witnessed a disappointing disconnect between the espoused values of an organization, the fundamentals of a curriculum, and the implementation of
that curriculum on the ground. In some cases, being embedded at one particular
site hampered my ability to understand and examine the causes of theses breakdowns at an organizational
level. I had my theories, but since I was removed from the workflow at the
senior level, they were nothing more than theories. When approaching the YMCA,
I made it clear that I was not interested in pursuing an internship where I
would get bogged down with day-to-day site-level operations (i.e. playing with kids). While I love doing
this work, and I learn something new each day that I do it, that scenario would
not be a worthwhile Field Experience Program for me. Instead, my mentor is a
Vice President of YMCA Greater Boston, who overseas all child development
operations across 13 sites in the region. I will be well-positioned to learn
more about how they address system-wide challenges, for example, the training
of site leaders, or the demographic differences between sites. Ultimately, I
want to understand their approach to large-scale quality control.

While
I’ve done a ton of volunteer work, I haven’t been an intern since 2005, when I
was an undergraduate student. All juniors in the Urban Studies Program at San Francisco State University are required to set up and complete an internship,
very similar to the HGSE Field Experience Program. I worked as a Service-Learning Instructor at a local high school, The Urban School of San Francisco. I have a solid understanding of the challenges that come with being
an unpaid, temporary member of a work team. As the saying goes, “sometimes free
is too expensive.” With financial compensation removed from the equation, it
becomes even more important for me to set clear expectations for what I want to
get out of the experience. While most of my peers will be working for a
paycheck (and for the love of children), they may not understand exactly
what I’m doing there, and why I’m there. My meeting with my mentor on Tuesday
will be an important step towards defining these goals. Likewise, I need a
clear understanding of what the organization and my mentor expect from me. The
good news is that I’m in a field that I love, and I am used to doing the work
for free, for pennies, for pesos
and for escudos. It
won’t be hard for me to treat this experience like a “real job,” and that
should facilitate my integration into the YMCA team.

Pura Vida,

Drew

* You might have noticed that I dropped A-608 "Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Education" in favor of H-250 "Developmental Psychology." I had my reasons.